Absolutely, Positively, PRECIOUS

Yep, that is how we would describe Thea . . . Absolutely, Positively, Precious.

As you can tell, we had a very nice day with her.
Thea and Kam both woke up very happy at 8am. Thea woke up, looked over at Kam and said “Kam”, with a big smile on her face! She did wake up for the 2nd time with blood on her pillow from her gums. Poor baby must be in pain. She pulled out her digital photobook and started asking who each person was. Uncle John, she really liked you for some reason :) She giggled after we told her your name.

Our plans with David were to visit the People’s Park, which is a public park right around the corner from the hotel. It has a ferris wheel and little roller coaster, along with many areas for the kids to play. Unfortunately, it stormed late last night and continued raining all morning. We decided to head back to Wal-Mart for a few items for the kids. I laid out a new outfit for Thea and she put it on. Then she looked at Kam’s outfit, and started to point and pout. She wanted to wear an outfit like his! He had on a black basketball shirt and shorts. Mark said he thinks she might be a tomboy :)

Once at Wal-Mart, I took Thea over to the clothes and had David tell her to pick something out. She wanted a jean skirt with ruffles at the bottom and a matching pink shirt. She also asked for a pair of rubber pink shoes. When we took her to the toys, she asked me for a Barbie doll. Kam showed her a stuffed animal and she shook her head no. Then he took her around to see if she wanted anything else. She only asked for a magnetic board to draw on. I don’t think she is a tomboy!

Tomorrow morning we are taking a trip to Thea’s orphanage. It is a long drive, so David told us to get some snacks for the kids. I had him ask Thea what she would like to snack on. She said “candy, bubble gum and jello”!! We were all laughing. I thought she would say crackers or something! She picked up a few different packages of bubble gum and I told her she could have only one. She smiled at me and put all back, except the package with Donald Duck on it. Then we took Kam over to the chips. He wanted Cheetos. There were several different kinds. We found out that Kam could choose from “turkey flavored, egg flavored or liver flavored” Cheetos! Ha, ha. He was actually a good sport about it and said he was going to try the turkey flavored ones. I’ll let you know how that goes tomorrow!

On another note – while Kam and I were walking around the food area, Kam took my hand and said “Mom, is she ours to keep forever now?” I explained what our appointments meant yesterday and said “YES, She is Ours Forever”! I think he loves her already. How blessed my children are to have him as a brother.

Kam had 100 yuan left and asked if he had enough to buy a car like Shawn’s, Thea’s Barbie and her magnetic board. The two of them went to the register and Kam spent 99.9 of his yuan.
After Wal-Mart, we headed to an indoor arcade. Thea went on bumper cars with Kam and Shawn. She seemed to love it. Then I showed her the skeetball. She watched me, then wanted to try it herself. She got mad when she didn’t do well and jumped up and down when she did.

After Wal-Mart it was time for lunch. David took us to McDonald’s. Thea picked out the corn and vegetable cups, not the hamburger or nuggets. I’m sure she had never even seen that stuff before. We let her try the french fries and she really like them. She only had a few and liked them with ketchup.

Our day out ended and we headed back to the hotel. We had Shawn and his family come to our hotel floor to sit and play with the cars for a while. The kids had a great time together, but I had to tell Thea to be kind to Sophia a few times. She disciplines her a lot. Due to Sophia being deaf, she does not have verbal skills at all. This makes Thea more physical with her, to show her what she wants her to do.

After a little while playing in the hall, we headed to our room to rest. We ended the day by going out for a bite to eat at the restaurant next to the hotel. We decided to be brave and venture out, without a guide. It was fun, trying to communicate with the staff. The “talk louder and slower and they’ll understand you” thing is big for Kam and it makes me laugh really hard. We have to explain that even if you talk louder, the language doesn’t change – ha, ha! Kam does try to use his limited Chinese knowledge, like ordering water (pronounced “shway”).

Kam wanted me to list a few of his menu options for his cousins and friends. They were:
Flavored fried camel meat, Beef balls chaozhou style, Stewed duck blood, Fried river snail, Pan fried goose liver, Fried pig’s stomach, Steamed papaya, Deep fried pigeon and Roasted duck’s beak!!!! I know a few of you think I am kidding about this – I’m NOT! Don’t worry grandmas, he opted for the fried rice, broccoli and beef fried noodle J Mark got spicy fried noodles and got full! Our meals were actually really yummy!

When we got back to the hotel, Thea let me brush her teeth and inspect them better. It looks like there is a lot of brown on each tooth that can be polished off. There are a few cavities, but it is hard to tell how many. Her gums are bleeding around the teeth that are kind of “squished in”. Mark bought mouthwash and showed her how to use it. She did great and then made funny faces. Hopefully if I scrub her teeth each night and she uses the mouthwash, her mouth will feel better. Her breath is much better now too, for those of you that want to give her a big kiss when you meet her (you are going to want to, she is so, so sweet!)

I think my beautiful nieces have some competition when it comes to the biggest smile! I seriously do not know if Thea's smile could be any bigger :) And the best part is that she is always smiling!

As far as the bonding is going - well, Mark got an unsolicited hug today before we left for Wal-Mart and she has held our hands all day long. I still don’t think she prefers either one of us yet. At every opportunity, she would take Mark’s hand and lead him to where we were going, then come back for me and take my hand and lead me. She wanted to make sure that both of us were with her. She has also called us Mama and Baba all day (mommy and daddy).

Her manners are getting better already!! Yeah. She has been trying to please us all day by saying “thank you” at every appropriate opportunity. She knows exactly what it means.

I suppose that is all for today. I’ve fallen asleep 4 times while typing this, ugh! I really want to thank every single person for sending an e-mail. What an awesome surprise it is each night. I am so sorry that I haven’t personally responded to each one. At night, after being out all day, it is all I can do to get the summary of the day done. I’m hoping that tomorrow I’ll have a chance to return a message to each person. Thank you again.

Much love to all of our family and friends! Hugs and kisses to Ben, Janie and Eva.

Proud, proud, very, very blessed mom,
Kari

Kam, attempting the Chinese dancing game at Wal-Mart.